If you are interested in the job, you can go ahead and answer client's questions about how you would complete the job. If you need more information to answer the question, you can ask the client to clarify.

It is impossible to answer that question with a definitive answer, and you should tell them so. You should also let them know that results vary and there are no guarantees with lead gen. Then you can go on to give a few examples of both the best and the worst case scenarios of real client lead gen projects that you worked on. Also, instead of trying to define the impossible, define your goals for the projected leads per a specific time period, like a week and not an hour. Hope that help!

I agree with Sheressa! The only time I ever give a client an hour estimate is if I think I can get a job done in an hour. Usually, though, I use days to measure time. For example, a client asked me to track down 250 leads recently, and I told him it'd take a couple of days (if I didn't have any other work those days and could dedicate an entire work day just for this job). Besides that, I can't really give estimates, especially when working in a new program.

Agreed with both of you. I think the best solution to this is to convince the client to pay you per lead. I usually do that and it works best. I think hourly jobs don't work best when it comes to lead generation.